Golf: Ryan Fox misses cut at Australian PGA as other Kiwis shine

Ryan Fox missed the cut at the Australian PGA. Photo / Getty

Ryan Fox has failed to fire at the Australian PGA in Brisbane, but two rising Kiwi stars have stepped up in his place.

Fox was one of the favourites for the event that features Australia’s best players and a few DP World Tour regulars, but his busy recent schedule counted against him as he shot rounds of 72 and 74 to sit at four-over and miss the cut by three strokes.

However, the Kiwi duo of Denzel Ieremia and Daniel Hillier will be in the hunt over the weekend.

Ieremia carded rounds of 67 and 68 to sit in a tie for fifth at seven-under, just three shots off the lead held by Australian world No 220 Jason Scrivener.

The 26-year-old Ieremia showed his potential in 2019, with top-10 finishes at the Australian PGA, Australian Open and NSW Open, but struggled for opportunities after Covid struck. However, a season on the Latinoamerica PGA Tour was followed by three top-12 finishes in Australia in the last month to show a sign of a player regaining his best form.

Also near his best is 24-year-old Hillier, who backed up winning his DP World Tour card this season by beginning the new campaign with rounds of 69 and 67 to sit at six-under in a share of 10th.

Fellow Kiwi Chang Gi Lee was briefly at seven-under, but reeled off three straight bogeys on the back nine to fall to four-under, while Nick Voke is at three-under and Josh Geary was the only other Kiwi to make the cut, jumping 72 places after a three-under second round moved him to even par.

Scrivener leads by one over world No 3 and local favourite Cam Smith, while Poland’s Adrian Meronk – looking for a win to vault into the world top 50 and qualify for the Masters – is at seven-under.

“The two days have been quite different,” said Scrivener. “Yesterday was stress free and I hit the ball tee to green very well. Today was a little scrappier but I got away with a few things and scrambled well so all in all pretty happy with it.”

Scrivener is a DP World Tour member, born in South Africa and raised in Perth. The Australian PGA is co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour.

Also trying to book his ticket to the Masters was Australian Lucas Herbert, but back pain forced him to withdraw midway through his second round. A winner on the PGA and European tours, Herbert had hoped to use the Australian PGA to improve his ranking by five places to get inside the top 50.

But after taking anti-inflammatory tablets and battling through 10 holes, Herbert decided to quit. He shot a one-over 72 on Thursday.

He said his physiotherapist’s strong recommendation was to withdraw given the threat of a serious, long-term injury if he continued.

“I twinged my back this morning on the range, lost a lot of power in my swing,” Herbert said. “I tried everything I could to get going, I really wanted to keep playing and try and finish and make the cut and work my way up on the weekend.”

- With AP